Chapter 5 Topics for Discussion

  1. People differ in their ideal listening environments. When do you listen best?  What times of day, places, and speaking situations make it easy for you to listen? Which make it difficult? What can you do if you have to listen in a poor listening environment?
  2. It has been suggested that parents teach their children to be poor listeners by modeling poor listening and by saying things like, “I don’t want to hear about that.” Were your parents good listeners? Did they ever do things to discourage good listening?
  3. Do you consider yourself an emotional person? Why or why not? When do you get angry? What do you do to inhibit anger?
  4. How do you react to conflict? Do you instigate or avoid conflict. Why?
  5. Do you know people who seem to lack emotional intelligence? What is it they do that makes you think that? What could you do to help them increase their emotional intelligence?
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